Martin Crane OSA, DD (11 October 181821 October 1901), an Irish-born

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

suffragan bishop A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led b ...

, was the first

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Bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

of the Diocese of Sandhurst, serving between 1874 until his death in office in 1901.

Biography

Crane was born in

Bannow Bannow () is a village and civil parish lying east of Bannow Bay on the southwest coast of County Wexford, Ireland. In modern times the main settlement is the village of Carrig-on-Bannow (or ''Carrig''). In Norman times there was a borough ...

County Wexford County Wexford () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. Named after the town of Wexford, it was ba ...

, Ireland, the son of James Crane, a farmer and his wife, Mary. Together, they had five sons, who all became priests and a sister who became a

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nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 5 ...

. Crane received his early education at Wexford and joined the Augustinian order at Grantstown and completed his ministerial studies in

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. Crane was ordained a priest at

Perugia, Italy Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

on 12 April 1841 at age 22. He later returned to Ireland. He was consecrated bishop in

St Mary's Pro-Cathedral St Mary's Church (), known also as St Mary's Pro-Cathedral or simply the Pro-Cathedral, the Chapel in Marlborough Street or the Pro, is a pro-cathedral and is the episcopal seat of the Archbishop of Dublin (Catholic Church), Catholic Archbisho ...

, Dublin on 21 September 1874. He left for Australia the next year and was installed on 16 May 1875. He greatly expanded the Diocese of Sandhurst in

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, increasing the number of resident priests and building new schools and churches. Bishop Crane died on 21 October 1901, aged 83 in Victoria. Since Crane's death, Shepparton's Notre Dame College have named one of their six houses in his name.

References

External links

Bishop Martin Crane
iocese of Sandhurst website {{DEFAULTSORT:Crane, Martin (Roman Catholic bishop) 1818 births 1901 deaths Augustinian bishops People from County Wexford 19th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Australia Irish expatriate Roman Catholic bishops Australian people of Irish descent Roman Catholic bishops of Sandhurst